Historical Marketing Background 1920 to 1959 Marlboro was first introduced in the market in 1920, under the brand name of “Marlboro-Mild as May”. At the beginning, the brand was a cigarette designed for fine women. In 1930s, the price of Marlboro cigarettes was 15 cents per pack. The main distribution type was the direct mail. Around 1930s the “Mild as May” theme of the Marlboro brand was not so successful at the time. “One of the features of Marlboro cigarettes at the time was a red tip, which hid lipstick marks that women would leave while smoking” (6). Philip Morris came up with a new advertisement. This advertisement attempted to revitalize the brand and had the woman as the brand icon. However, during World War II the brand again faltered and had to be taken off the market. In 1950s, the fear of cancer and the connection between cancer and smoking led the market toward a filtered cigarette. Philip Morris did not have a filtered cigarette for the market, so he decided to re launch Marlboro as a new filtered cigarette brand. “In 1955, two transformations occurred which would affect both profitability and brand recognition: the addition of an integrated filter and the re-invention of the market through the debut of the ‘Marlboro Man’ advertising campaign” (2). Unfortunately for Marlboro, formerly known to be ‘Mild as May’, the new filters were considered effeminate. Philip Morris used the television commercials and magazines to assured buyers that there was nothing feminine about these filtered cigarettes. They wanted to reassure men that the filter did not change Marlboro quality. The new brand’s target market was mainly men. The dilemma would be to appeal to the attitudes of an old group of customers with a new concern, addicted men who feared lung cancer. Marlboro cigarette was different from the other cigarettes because it was introduced as the new "safer" filtered brand. 1960 to 1989 In 1964, Philip Morris came out with the 'Marlboro Country' advertisement. Elliott describes the Marlboro advertisement. “Missing from the breathlessly busy ads is the Marlboro Man, the cowboy who has been the focus of Marlboro's advertising since the concept of ‘Marlboro Country’ -- a Western locale, real and imagined, where rugged individualism is expressed by ceaseless smoking -- was introduced in 1964 by Leo Burnett U.S.A.” (1). The Marlboro Man icon was a more masculine man, and cowboy was the icon used to represent him. The icon shown in the ads was an independent man that was multitasking and smoking a Marlboro cigarette. Promotional items included boxes, soft packs, cartons, cookbooks, playing cards, and other materials. The price for the Marlboro cigarettes was 20 cents per pack. The Marlboro competitor brand RJ Reynolds main target markets were young adults. “This memo provides some thoughts on developing a new cigarette brand targeted toward younger adults.” (10). Both Marlboro and RJ Reynolds were competing with each other for the same target market. The Camel brand of RJ Reynolds was distinguished for its blend, pricing, and advertising. Camel’s cigarettes were sold for ten cents a pack. Around 1972, Marlboro cigarettes became the most popular brand and have remained so for the most part since then. Elliott stresses the importance of the promotion of the Marlboro brand. “The promotion is an integral part of Philip Morris's mad scramble to bolster sales for premium brands like Marlboro, which are far more profitable than bargain brands.” (1). Based on the profitability of the Marlboro brand, Philip Morris decided that this brand would be advertised more. The target market of the Marlboro brand continued to be mostly adult men. Philip Morris continued to use the cowboy icon since it was the most successful symbol in the advertisements. The Marlboro brand was differentiated from the other brands in his full flavor. Documents from Philip Morris described the impact of the 1989 increase in the California cigarette excise tax. “Effective January 1, 1989, the California cigarette tax was increased from 10 cent per pack to 35 cents, representing a price increase of over 20%.” (5). The California cigarette tax resulted in an increase of 27 cents per pack of Marlboro cigarettes. During the 1980s, the new target markets of Marlboro are the young adult smokers between the age of 18 and 24 years old. The Philip Morris Company used the direct mailing to persuade smoking customers to buy Marlboro cigarettes. In the 1980s, Reynolds's strategy was focused on developing new foreign markets for tobacco products to offset lower domestic demand and sales. To enter into the market and disrupt the self-feeding brand Rroyth Marlboro, a new brand will have to maximize each and every means. 1990 to 2001 Philip Morris continued to use the Marlboro Man as the advertisement icon. Laucius states the success of Marlboro advertising icon. “The bible of the advertising industry has declared the Marlboro Man to be the century's top advertising icon.” (4). The cowboy icon used as a symbol of Marlboro brand was rated the most successful advertising icon. Even though the tobacco settlement agreements permitted participating manufacturers to distribute free samples of cigarettes in adult-only facilities, Philip Morris voluntarily stopped providing free samples of cigarettes to smokers for promotional purposes in 1995. The brand’s target markets at this time were old males from 21to 30 years old. In an effort to maintain growth, Marlboro introduced Marlboro Lights into Marlboro Country. Suddenly, for the first time in memory the brand’s sales started to turn down. To increase the sale of the Marlboro brand cigarettes, Philip Morris introduced a new promotion to retailers. “Participating retailers will receive an allowance of 25 cent per pack/$2.50 per carton if they reduce their price of Marlboro to adult smokers by at least 25 cent per pack/$2.50 per carton and communicate the reduced price through placement of a display and available POS during the promotion period” (9). During the promotion period, the retailers would have to decrease the price of the cigarette packs in order to receive the allowance. After the promotion, the average price per pack would be $3.52. Philip Morris used also the direct mail advertising which contained cigarette brand advertising that was sent only to adult smokers who have certified that they are a smoker, 21 years of age or older, and interested in receiving communications from Philip Morris company. In 1990s Philip Morris used this channel of distribution manufactures to warehouses to wholesalers to retailers and finally to consumers. There are different varieties of Marlboro which includes Full Flavor, Lights, Ultra lights, Medium, menthol, and the blends. In all there are more then 30 Varieties of this one brand. There are a number of web sites that offer Marlboro and other cigarettes at discounted prices. Marlboro can not be advertised in ways we are familiar with because of the restrictions and regulations. But they still remain the number one selling brand on the market today. Whether it’s through the spoken word or their mail promotions they still advertise in untraditional ways. They don't offer pop displays or free samples but they do offer promotions in the form of coupons and specials like buy one get one free. Their price range is $2.69 a pack to $5.00 a pack depending on where you live and where you buy them. They are sold in locations like convenience stores, supermarkets, and gas stations.

Work Cited 1. Elliott, Stuart. "The Marlboro Man is Missing in Action in New Campaign." The New York Times (1992). LexisNexis. Oct. 2007 .

2. Flaherty, Stacey. "Archives Center." American History. Nov. 2000. Tobacco. Oct. 2007 .

3. Hwang, Suein L. "ADVERTISING & MEDIA Marlboro Man's Going Uptown." The Wall Street Journal (1992). LexisNexis. Oct.-Nov. 2007.

4. Laucius, Joanne. "Marlboro Man Advertising's Most Recognizable Icon." The Ottawa Citizen (1999). LexisNexis. Oct.-Nov. 2007.

5. Martin, P G. "Welcome to the Philip Morris USA Document Site." Philip Morris Documents. 12 Jan. 1990. Marketing. Oct.-Nov. 2007 .

6. "Philip Morris USA Home." Philip Morris USA. Oct. 2007 .

7. Pollack, Judann. "B&W's Carlton Relaunch First Since New Ad Rules." Advertising Age 70 (1999). Business Source Premier. EBSCO. Oct.-Nov. 2007.

8. Silk, Alvin J. "Philip Morris: Marlboro Friday (a)." Harvard Business School Cases (1995). Business Source Premier. Oct. 2007 .

9. "Welcome to the Philip Morris USA Document Site." Philip Morris Documents. 2 Feb. 1984. Marketing. Oct. 2007 .

10. "Welcome to the Philip Morris USA Document Site." Philip Morris Documents. Mar.-Apr. 1998. Retail Promotion. Oct. 2007 .